1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prescription verification system for maintaining information on pharmaceutical prescriptions, and more specifically, but not by way of limitation for verifying the validity and status of prescribed pharmaceuticals.
2. Prior Art
The prescription drug industry consists of several different organizations and professionals. These groups included the health care providers, pharmacies, insurance companies, federal agencies, state agencies, local agencies, and pharmaceutical firms. Each of these groups function virtually autonomous from the others, and each has its own specific interests. This autonomy, coupled with a lack of centralized information, frequently leads to errors in the ordering and filling of drug prescriptions, improper use of prescribed drugs, fraud within the system, and increased costs to each group within the industry.
There are approximately 630,000 prescribers of pharmaceuticals and 76,000 pharmacies in the United States which filled 2.6 billion prescriptions last year. It has been estimated that up to $25 billion per year is attributable to drug fraud and abuse. Additionally, the U.S. General Accounting Office suggests that inappropriate use of prescription drugs exceeds $20 billion per year. Although certain ones of the groups previously mentioned, namely the insurance companies, maintain information relating to their clients, there exists no nationally recognized or easily accessible system for maintaining information on prescription drugs to minimize fraud, abuse, and errors associated with the prescription drug industry.
Furthermore, prescriptions handwritten by physicians are frequently misinterpreted, or completely illegible to the filling pharmacist. Even where such handwritten prescriptions are partially legible, the patient is at great risk of the dosage and special instructions being incorrectly labeled on the final prescription.
Problems also exist with prescribed medications, since patients frequently are unaware of the specific type of medications they are currently taking or simply forget. This presents a serious problem since drug interactions may be dangerous, if not fatal. However, there does not exist a centralized system for a health care provider to determine current prescription medications that a specific patient may be using.
Thus, a need exists for a prescription verification system that is readily accessible to the groups previously mentioned, and more specifically, but not by way of limitation, to the health care provider which prescribes the medications and the pharmacies which fill the prescriptions. It is to a prescription verification system capable of minimizing the fraud, abuse and errors associated with prescription drugs that the present invention is directed.